Morning journal and courier., 1887-09-02

dead comrades of the Tenth.
 Bear with me little, comrades, while I re-
 call some events attending the earlier
 months of our regimental history. Strange
 ly we all felt when by companies we pitched
 our tents on the Hartford meadow and began our military career together. It was my fate to be member of the first company
 that reached our camp. Although almost simultaneously the brave Manchester boys of Company appeared upon the ground. Then day by day the others came-Compa- ny K from New Haven the last of the ten. Probably no regiment that left Connecticut during the war so fully represented the State. In it (if my recollection is correcD were men from every county and from more than two- thirds of our towns.
 Some few, like our gallant Leggett and Welles, were old soldiers who had charged 1 upon the Chinese forts years before. Many more like the lamented Russell and Drake, | had been in the Connecticut brigade of three ' months troops and took part in the Bull Run l campaign, but the great majority were nov | ices and some had never even fired gun. In \ our regiment we represented nearly every \ calling pursued by civilized men. We were \ of all social conditions and of every degree ot education and culture. We represented from | our colonel to our drummer boy the manhood l and youth of our ancient commonwealth. While most of us were of American and Con-
 necticut lineage, we had with us some ot for-
 ! eiqn birth-Englishmen Irishmen, Germans
 l and at least one Frenchman-in Company D.
 But all, whether born in this or foreign
 land, were deeply imbued with that spirit ot
 independence which is the American birth
 right.
 Every man has his own individual pecu-
 | liarities and temper. How to harmonlze
 ] them, subject them to discipline, to mould
 \ and fashion them into one compact, united,
 harmonious body, was the problem that our \ field officers had to take in hand and solve.
 l In such body there must necessarily be ' much friction. We were fortunate, first in
 our field officers and adjutant; next, ln that
 solid subtratum of common sense that com- bined with patriotic ardor, enabled every man from the beginning to put his own Pe- culiarities to some degree in subJectlen TOT | the common good. And finally in the facG ! that arriving together as strangers from all \ parts of the State we were not distracted by | those local jealousies, which, in too many 1n- \ stances, were serious trouble to regiments \ largely made up of neighbors and acquaint- | ances If there is one place above all others | in which men study each other it | is in newly organized regiment, | whose members expect to go into active 1 operations and know that their lives | and their success must depend upon the men | that are to be their comrades. presume we ! studied each other as keenly as was possible. presume that in the little trios of company | officers, there were great condolences about | the individuals composing the other nine. It was not invidious criticism at all but that | weighing of men that every one felt intui- lively as to be essential to his own and the general good. Without doubt the rank and ! file studied those of as who were of6cers;their immediate commanders hrst, the remainder as they had opportunity. Many of you will | remember the quickness with which odd ! nicknames were applied. 1remember one of
 the first, it was before the regiment was uni, nj, ! formed. In Company "A" were several men | who had no idea of cadenced time, and as we had no drum to give the beat our captain | would keep the unfortunates in step by | shouting the regular measure, Hepl Hep! ! Hepl Hep! In the excitement of the drill his high keyed xxx voice was gradually \ pitched higher and still higher, until the | ring of it rose above all other sounds of camp and drill field. The boys of other com panies "caught on" and soon our l friend and comrade, Colonel Pardee, was known throughout the regiment as "Old Hep" This cry continued to ring un-
 \ til the drums came, when the sound and ! nickname were dropped together.
 have said we were fortunate in our field | officers and adjutant, but should have said
 in all our staff. I had known Colonel
 Charles L. Russell many years, there was a | warm, mutual affection between us. He
 was an exceedingly manly and noble man, ! with natural soldier qualities that would | have advanced him rapidly had his life been | spared. Between him and our noble Drake \ the most cordial good understanding existed. | Colonel Drake wished to acquire the same ! experience in handling the regiment that Russell possessed, and the latter therefore ! turned over to him the duty of drilling at Annapolis, while he stood by our quarter ! master from first to last in providing for the \ welfare of the command.
 Colonel Albert Drake was Q scholarly gen. | tlemen of high culture and rare intellectual ability; he had in him all the elements of | grand soldier, except his phyeique. Suffer | ing from an incurable disease and knowing ! that at the best he had but short time to | live, he went with us to the field, hoping to ! fall "with his face to the foe," but 1t was ! not so ordered.
 The calm, cool, somewhat slow, but always | sure Major Pettibone fttingly completed our trio of field officers.
 Who of us will ever forget onr genial little ! Quartermaster Fowler and his pet saddle \ pony? Never disconcerted by rebuHs he \ kept on in the even tenor of his way, and ac- | complished far more than many another in ! the same office of seeming, but far less real ! force; our surgeons and our chaplains still [ live, thank God; also our brilliant and ac- complished First Adjutant Colt, of them \ will not speak, nor of others who survive. should like to speak of gallant, sturdy | Leggett, of old courageous Captain Welles, of Major Meade, of Adjutant Camp, of Lieu tenant Billy Perkins, the pet line officer of \ the regiment, whose little body enshrined 8 \ noble soul; of Stil1man, Brewster, Quinn, Sharp, Wheaton, Holmes and of many moro | who sailed with us from A apolis, and were \ with us at the first bs 'tism of fire on \ Roanoke Island, but mU forbear, and yet | must be permitted to lay my garland in \ memory of one man very dear to me, and to all who knew him well, IT refer to my esteemed Second | Lieutenant John Coffin From the begin I ming Lieutenant Coffin and myself seemed to ! have an affinity each for the other, which was not lessened in any degree by an invitation \ to take up his quarters in my tent. Being thus intimate it becomes my privilege to tes- i tify to his genial good nature, lavish gener- osity, manly integrity and unquestioned bra very. The frequent visitations of brother officers to our quarters fully attested his I popularity in the regiment. A single incl dent at the outset will illustrate the dry hu- nor which enlivened any circle of which he formed part. We were as yet comparative strangers and were having our first extended interview on board the New Brunswick as we sailed on that ever-memorable expedition from Forsress Monroe. As was my habit during conversation my meerschaum ire quently went out and I became indebted to Coffin for sundry matches We were dis- cussing passing events when suddenly he turned to me in all seriousness and without changing a muscle of his face remarked: tfCaptain, desire here and now to have one thing understood: will agree to furnish you with tobacco for the year, but matches-neV- er."
 The field, staff and line officers as whole were of the best, nevertheless the Tenth could never have made it's glorious record but for the rank and file. Two-thirds of the enlisted men had in them the stuff of which good officers are made, and this was proven when casualties made space for promotion. Then your colonel found himself ''embar- rassed with riches" It was not 8 question of can I find man, but of these many de- serving and capable soldiers which ought to select, and when Otis made that decision which filled the vacant places no regiment from any State had better line than ours, and as these fell in action there were others
 equally capable to fill their places.
 And now dear comrades, permit few
 words of personal sympathy or congratula- tion as may seem most appropriate. Some
 of our number are meeting with success in life, we rejoice in their prosperity and con- gratulate them on their we'll earned victories in tha srts of raaca othars are roaintainirr